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Any division extending like a branch; any arm or part connected with the main body of thing; ramification; as, the branch of an antler; the branch of a chandelier; a branch of a river; a branch of a railway. Most of the branches , or streams, were dried up. W. Irving.

A pilot who has a branch or commission, as from Trinity House, England, for special navigation.

That which shoots forth branches; one who shows growth in various directions.

A system of branches.

A gill; a respiratory organ for breathing the air contained in water, such as many aquatic and semiaquatic animals have.

Of or pertaining to branchiæ or gills. Branchial arches, the bony or cartilaginous arches which support the gills on each side of the throat of fishes and amphibians. See Illustration in Appendix. -- Branchial clefts, the openings between the branchial arches through which water passes.

Furnished with branchiæ; as, branchiate segments.

Having gills; branchiate; as, branchiferous gastropods.

Fullness of branches.

Furnished with branches; shooting our branches; extending in a branch or branches. Shaded with branching palm. Milton.

Those Gastropoda that breathe by branchiæ, including the Prosobranchiata and Opisthobranchiata.

The state of being made up of branchiate segments. R. Wiedersheim.

One of the Branchiopoda.

An order of Entomostraca; -- so named from the feet of branchiopods having been supposed to perform the function of gills. It includes the fresh-water genera Branchipus, Apus, and Limnadia, and the genus Artemia found in salt lakes. It is also called Phyllopoda. See Phyllopoda, Cladocera. It is sometimes used in a broa…

A branchiostegal ray. See Illustration of Branchial arches in Appendix.

The branchiostegal membrane. See Illustration in Appendix.

Branchiostegal.

The lancelet. See Amphioxus.

A group of Entomostraca, with suctorial mouths, including species parasitic on fishes, as the carp lice (Argulus).

Destitude of branches or shoots; without any valuable product; barren; naked.